Steady State Herald

By Dave Rollo

As the setting for Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, Sauk County, Wisconsin, holds a special place within the pantheon of environmental literature. Leopold’s writings on ecology and forestry brought an understanding of land repair and remediation to academic and general audiences. It is difficult to imagine the fields of wildlife biology, soil conservation, or restoration ecology without Leopold’s contribution.

Likewise, the moral basis for the environmental movement in later decades owes its origins in part to Leopold’s land ethic.

The post Steady-State Origins in Sauk County appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Brian Czech

Steady State Herald readers are familiar with the theory that money originates from an agricultural surplus that frees hands for the division of labor—and thenceforth the exchanging of money. This trophic theory of money (TTOM) helps us understand not only the historical origins of money, such as in Mesopotamia (the “Cradle of Cash”), but also the annual origins of “warranted money” in the grain belts of the world.

The post Service Providers in the Trophic Theory of Money appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Mark Cramer

Every four years, the Summer Olympics present a rare opportunity for friendly competition and collaboration among nations. The public has an opportunity to witness a myriad of sports that otherwise never make the headlines. Talented athletes get a rare chance to display their skills before an international audience.

The Olympics offer a venue for peaceful, international solidarity. Yet they also present a seemingly insurmountable ecological challenge. To begin with,

The post The Olympic Spirit: Friendly Competition or Unsustainable Growth? appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Helene Langlamet

In 2007, the Marcellus Shale Play was opened for production in Pennsylvania. The fracking of the shale unlocked massive fossil fuel reserves previously considered inaccessible. But it also unleashed an especially expensive and wasteful extraction process that involved flushing hundreds of millions of tons of highly toxic chemicals a mile deep into the ground and into the water table. And it brought up natural gas contaminated with unprecedented levels of radioactivity.

by Alix Underwood

Like the economy of nature, the human economy has a “trophic” structure. In nature, nutrition and energy flow from plants to herbivores to carnivores, with each of these comprising a trophic level of the ecosystem. In the human economy, materials and energy flow from agriculture and other extractive activities to heavy manufacturing to light manufacturing. Both economies include service providers, such as pollinators in nature and the transportation sector in the human economy.

The post A Trophic Perspective on Fossil Fuels appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Dave Rollo

Okeechobee County is located in Florida’s Heartland Region, within the 3000-square mile Kissimmee River Basin. The Heartland stretches from Orlando in the north to the intertidal coast of mangrove forests to the south, forming an area commonly referred to as the “River of Grass.” Water flowed hundreds of miles through this enormous network of marshlands, helping to shape an ecosystem of unrivalled subtropical biodiversity.

Today,

The post Okeechobee County: Kept Great with Conservation appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Daniel Wortel-London

Working long hours? You aren’t alone.  Forty-one percent of U.S. workers reported working more than 45 hours a week in 2021. Sixteen percent said they spent more than 60 hours per week at work. Working long hours has been shown to degrade quality of life and productivity. But there’s a bigger problem with full-time employment: It isn’t environmentally sustainable.

Additional economic growth is the only way to generate full-time employment.

The post Introducing a Different Type of 32-Hour Workweek Act appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Alix Underwood

Though it’s easy to lose sight of, with our language and culture and smartphones, Homo sapiens is an animal species that exists within natural ecosystems. All our activities, including our economic activities, take place within and depend upon these ecosystems. This is the starting point for the trophic theory of money (TTOM).

“Trophic” refers to the flow of nutrition and energy. In the economy of nature,

The post Rooted in the Earth: The Economy Needs Agriculture appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Brian Czech

Perhaps you’ve heard: Autocracy is on the march. Not just in the obvious places like Russia, China, and North Korea. Democracy has been declining throughout the world for decades, sometimes gradually, sometimes suddenly, but invariably replaced by autocratic tendencies, politicians, and states.

What’s going on in places as far-flung as Hungary, Myanmar, and Nicaragua? Why, after the lessons of world wars, the Cold War,

The post Democracy Trumped at the Limits to Growth appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

by Gary Gardner

Mention the steady state economy at a gathering of friends and a predictable concern is sure to arise. “I couldn’t possibly manage on a flat income, much less a reduced one. I can barely make ends meet now!” Heads will nod all around. The idea of a nongrowing economy—not to mention degrowth—quickly sours the party mood.

The objection is understandable from people long accustomed to ever-greater levels of consumption.

The post Rendering the Economic Fat for a Steady State Economy appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.